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<title>Validation Settings</title>
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<h1 id="validation_settings">Validation Settings</h1>

<p>This section describes how to set Validation preferences and how to control
  Certificate Revocation List (CRL) settings.</p>

<p>For step-by-step descriptions of various tasks related to validation and
  CRLs, see <a href="using_certs_help.xhtml#controlling_validation">How
  Certificate Validation Works</a>.</p>

<div class="contentsBox">In this section:
  <ul>
    <li><a href="#privacy_and_security_preferences_validation">Privacy &amp;
      Security Preferences - Validation</a></li>
    <li><a href="#manage_crls">Manage CRLs</a></li>
    <li><a href="#crl_import_status">CRL Import Status</a></li>
    <li><a href="#automatic_crl_update_preferences">Automatic CRL Update
      Preferences</a></li>
  </ul>
</div>

<h2 id="privacy_and_security_preferences_validation">Privacy &amp; Security
  Preferences - Validation</h2>

<p>This section describes how to use the Validation Settings panel. If you are
  not already viewing the panel, follow these steps:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Open the <span class="mac">&brandShortName;</span>
    <span class="noMac">Edit</span> menu and choose Preferences.</li>
  <li>Under the Privacy &amp; Security category, click Validation. (If no
    subcategories are visible, double-click Privacy &amp; Security to expand
    the list.)</li>
</ol>

<p>For background information on certificate validation, see
  <a href="using_certs_help.xhtml#controlling_validation">How Certificate
  Validation Works</a>.</p>

<h3 id="crl">CRL</h3>

<p>A certificate revocation list (CRL) is a list of revoked certificates that
  is generated and signed by a
  <a href="glossary.xhtml#certificate_authority">certificate authority
  (CA)</a>. It&apos;s possible to download a CRL to your browser, which can
  check it to ensure that certificates are still valid before permitting their
  use for authentication.</p>

<p>Click Manage CRLs to see a list of the CRLs available to Certificate
  Manager.</p>

<p>For more information about managing CRLs, see
  <a href="using_certs_help.xhtml#managing_crls">Managing CRLs</a>.</p>

<h3 id="ocsp">OCSP</h3>

<p>The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) makes it possible for
  Certificate Manager to perform an online check of a certificate&apos;s
  validity each time the certificate is viewed or used. This process involves
  checking the certificate against a certificate revocation list (CRL)
  maintained at a specified server. Your computer must be online for OCSP to
  work.</p>

<p>To specify how Certificate Manager uses OCSP, choose one of these settings
  in the OCSP section of Validation Settings:</p>

<ul>
  <li><strong>Use the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) to confirm the
    current validity of certificates</strong>: Select this setting if you want
    Certificate Manager to perform an online status check each time it verifies
    a certificate. If this setting is off, Certificate Manager will only
    confirm the certificate&apos;s validity period and that it is correctly
    signed by a CA whose own CA certificate is both listed under the CA
    Certificates tab (in the main Certificate Manager window) and marked as
    trusted for issuing that kind of certificate.</li>
  <li><strong>Validate a certificate if it specifies a OCSP server</strong>:
    Select this setting for online validation of certificates that provides a
    validation service address (Service URL). Certificate Manager makes sure
    that the certificate is listed as valid at the URL and checks validity
    period and trust settings.</li>
  <li><strong>Validate all certificates using the following OSCP
    server</strong>: Select this setting if you want to specify a OCSP server
    for the validation of all certificates. If you select this setting, you
    should also choose the certificate from the Response Signer pop-up menu
    that identifies the signer of the OCSP responses. With this setting, the
    only certificates Certificate Manager recognizes are those that can be
    verified by an OCSP response signed with the Response Signer certificate
    (or signed using a certificate that chains to it).

    <p>When you choose a Response Signer certificate from the pop-up menu,
      Certificate Manager fills in the Service URL (if available) for that
      signer automatically. If the Service URL is not filled in automatically,
      you must provide it yourself; ask your system administrator for
      details.</p>
  </li>
  <li><strong>When an OCSP server connection fails, treat the certificate as
    invalid</strong>: Select this if you want the validation to fail if a
    connection to the OCSP server can&apos;t be established.</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="manage_crls">Manage CRLs</h2>

<p>This section describes how to use the Manage CRLs dialog box. To view it,
  follow these steps:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Open the <span class="mac">&brandShortName;</span>
    <span class="noMac">Edit</span> menu and choose Preferences.</li>
  <li>Under the Privacy &amp; Security category, click Validation. (If no
    subcategories are visible, double-click Privacy &amp; Security to expand
    the list.)</li>
  <li>Click Manage CRLs.</li>
</ol>

<p>This dialog box displays a list of the
  <a href="glossary.xhtml#crl">CRLs</a> that you have
  downloaded for use by your browser. Typically, you download a CRL by
  clicking a URL. For information about how CRLs work, see
  <a href="using_certs_help.xhtml#managing_crls">Managing CRLs</a>.</p>

<p>To select a CRL, click it. You can then perform any of these actions:</p>

<ul>
  <li><strong>Delete</strong>: Deletes the CRL permanently from your hard disk.
    Don&apos;t do this unless you&apos;re sure you no longer need the CRL for
    validating certificates. If in doubt, consult your system
    administrator.</li>
  <li><strong>Settings</strong>: Opens the
    <a href="#automatic_crl_update_preferences">Automatic CRL Update
    Preferences</a> dialog box, which allows you to activate automatic CRL
    updates for the selected CRL and specify how frequently they should be
    performed.</li>
  <li><strong>Update</strong>: Immediately updates the selected CRL
  (if possible).</li>
</ul>

<p>The Manage CRLs dialog box provides the following information about each
  CRL:</p>

<ul>
  <li><strong>Organization (O)</strong>: The name of the organization that
    issued the CRL.</li>
  <li><strong>Organizational Unit (OU)</strong>: The name of the organizational
    unit that issued the CRL (such as the root CA for a particular kind of
    certificate).</li>
  <li><strong>Last Update</strong>: The date on which the browser&apos;s copy
    of this CRL was last updated.</li>
  <li><strong>Next Update</strong>: The next date on which an updated version
    of this CRL will be published by the CRL issuer.</li>
  <li><strong>Auto Update</strong>: Indicates whether Auto Update has been
    enabled for this CRL. To view the settings that control auto updating,
    select the CRL and click Settings.</li>
  <li><strong>Auto Update Status</strong>:
    <ul>
      <li>If Auto Update has not been enabled, or if it has been enabled but
        the next scheduled update has not yet occurrred, this field will be
        blank.</li>
      <li>After at least one auto update has occurred, this field shows
        <q>failed</q> if the most recent auto update failed, or
        <q>OK</q> if the most recent auto update was successful.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

<h2 id="crl_import_status">CRL Import Status</h2>

<p>This section describes how to use the CRL Import Status dialog box, which
  appears when you first attempt to import a CRL or when you successfully
  update it manually.</p>

<p>This dialog box informs you</p>

<ul>
  <li>whether your attempt to import or update the CRL was successful</li>
  <li>what organization issued the CRL</li>
  <li>when the next update of this CRL will be published</li>
  <li>whether Automatic Update is enabled for this CRL</li>
</ul>

<p>If Automatic Update is not enabled, you can turn it on from here:</p>

<ul>
  <li><strong>Yes</strong>: Click Yes to enable automatic updating of this CRL.
    If you click this button, the Automatic CRL Update Preferences dialog box
    appears next. The next section describes how to set these preferences.</li>
  <li><strong>No</strong>: Click No if you wish to leave Automatic Update
    disabled.</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="automatic_crl_update_preferences">Automatic CRL Update Preferences</h2>

<p>This section describes how to use the Automatic CRL Update Preferences
  dialog box. If you are not already viewing it, follow these steps:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Open the <span class="mac">&brandShortName;</span>
    <span class="noMac">Edit</span> menu and choose Preferences.</li>
  <li>Under the Privacy &amp; Security category, click Validation. (If no
    subcategories are visible, double-click Privacy &amp; Security to expand
    the list.)</li>
  <li>Click Manage CRLs, then select the CRL whose auto update preferences you
    want to view or change.</li>
  <li>Click Settings.</li>
</ol>

<p>This dialog box displays the following options and information:</p>

<ul>
  <li><strong>Enable Automatic Update for this CRL</strong>: Select this option
    if you want the CRL you selected to be updated automatically according to
    the schedule you set here. (Note that you can&apos;t select this option if
    the CRL doesn&apos;t specify a Next Update date.)

    <p>If you enable Automatic Update, you must select one of these radio
      buttons:</p>
      <ul>
        <li><strong>Update X days before Next Update date</strong>: Select this
          option if you want to base the update frequency on the frequency with
          which the CRL publisher publishes a new version of the CRL.</li>
        <li><strong>Update every X days</strong>: Select this option if you
          want to specify an update interval unrelated to the CRL&apos;s Next
          Update date.</li>
      </ul>
  </li>
  <li><strong>CRL would be imported from</strong>: Indicates the URL from which
    the browser originally imported the CRL. This setting cannot be changed. To
    specify a different location, delete the CRL and re-import it from the new
    location.</li>
  <li><strong>Previous Consecutive Update Failures</strong>: Indicates how
    many times update attempts for this CRL have failed consecutively,
    including the most recent failure:
    <ul>
      <li>If the most recent attempt was successful, this reads
        <q>None</q> even if there were previous unsuccessful
        attempts.</li>
      <li>If the most recent attempt failed, this indicates the number of
        consecutive failures and the error message for the most recent
        failure.</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

<p>Click OK to confirm your choices.</p>

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